How can I reduce lens flare when shooting toward the sun?
Asked 2/16/2011
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When I photograph with the sun or another bright light source in front of the camera, I often get flare or reflections in the image. Sometimes this forces me to change my composition. Aside from recomposing, what can I do to reduce lens flare when shooting toward a bright light source?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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In general a lens hood can help this, as can shading the lens with your hand (this if useful in the cases where the lens hood falls short of offering optimum flare protection, as is often the case with zooms, or full frame primes on APS-C). Shading only works when the lightsource is outside of the frame, however.
Of course the best way of avoiding flare is by not shooting into the sun (or any other lightsource). But for the times when this is not possible, removing any lens mounted filters may help. Also when upgrading look at reviews that tell you how badly a lens flares, as some are much worse than others! Finally try and use flare as an artistic element in the picture!
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Lens flare is hardest to avoid when a bright light is aimed into the lens, but you can reduce it.
- Use a lens hood. It helps block stray light, especially when the light source is just outside the frame.
- Shade the lens with your hand or another object if the hood isn’t enough. Be careful not to let it enter the shot.
- Remove unnecessary front filters. Extra glass can increase reflections and flare.
- Know that some lenses flare more than others. Optical design and coatings matter, and wide-angle lenses are often more prone to flare.
- If the light source is in the frame, there may be no complete fix besides changing your angle or composition.
So: if the sun is outside the frame, a hood or shading often helps a lot. If the sun is inside the frame, flare may be unavoidable, and the best options are changing position/composition or using the flare creatively.
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